1800/1798 Draped Bust Cent. S-191. Rarity-3. Style I Hair. EF-40 (PCGS).<strong>Type:</strong> Draped Bust.<p><strong>Design:</strong> Obv: A draped bust of Liberty faces right with the word LIBERTY above and the date 1800 below. Libertys hair is tied with a ribbon, the ends of which are plainly evident at the back of the head. Rev: A wreath surrounds the denomination ONE CENT, the base of the wreath bound by a ribbon tied into a bow. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is around the border and another expression of the denomination 1/100 is below.<p><strong>Weight Standard:</strong> 10.89 grams.<p><strong>Diameter:</strong> 29 mm.<p><strong>Die Variety:</strong> Sheldon-191, Breen-2. Obv: Style I Hair (a.k.a. Head of 1797) without an extra curl in Libertys hair at the shoulder. The 1800/1798 overdate. Both of these features are definitive for the 1800-dated cent issue, this obverse die also appearing in the S-190, NC-5 and NC-6 pairings. Rev: Long fraction bar with a die scratch from its left end. Die chips are evident at the base of the leaf below the letter I in UNITED and on the branch stem below the left bow. This reverse also appears in the 1800 NC-1 pairing.<p>S-191 is one of several die marriages that correspond to the 1800/1798 Style I Hair <em>Guide Book</em> variety of the 1800 Draped Bust cent. The others are S-190, NC-5 and NC-6.<p><strong>Die State:</strong> Noyes A/B, Breen II. Obv: Perfect. Rev: Cracked diagonally through the letter I in AMERICA, another crack originates at the border outside the letter C in AMERICA and continues, irregularly, through the adjacent A and the right ribbon end. The die is clashed around the fraction and within the left wreath, impressed denticles between the border and the letters STA in STATES. Bulges due to die failure at the fraction and below the letters ON in ONE are in an early state.<p><strong>Edge:</strong> Plain, per the listing in the <em>Guide Book</em>, although more accurately described as a Single-Flange Edge. The PCGS holder prevents us from determining whether the thin incuse line is at the upper or lower part of the edge.<p><strong>Mintage:</strong> The <em>Guide Book</em> provides a mintage of 2,822,175 coins for the 1800 Draped Bust cent, which corresponds to the Mints total deliveries for this denomination during calendar year 1800, as reported by the Mint director. Some of these coins were likely from earlier-dated dies, a prime candidate in this regard the 1799 S-189 variety.<p><strong>Estimated Surviving Population for the Die Variety:</strong> Rarity-3: 301 to 400 coins in all grades.<p><strong>Strike:</strong> Obverse impression drawn to 1 oclock with no denticulation along the upper right border, the reverse is better centered with virtually full denticulation. All major design elements are boldly to sharply defined.<p><strong>Surfaces:</strong> Deep olive-copper patina dominates both sides, with the central reverse displaying intermingled gray-brown. Micropitting is only discernible with the aid of a loupe; the surfaces are predominantly smooth, with minor marks in the lower left obverse field and at the border above the end of the bust the only readily evident identifiers.<p><strong>Commentary:</strong> This interesting variety was struck from an obverse die that the Mint originally intended for use in production of 1798-dated cents but, for unknown reasons, was not employed until overdated for 1800-dated coinage. The Style II Letters with a curved tail to the R in LIBERTY suggests that this die was prepared in late 1797 or early 1798. The present example is missing from the Bland census, but is graded VF30(XF45) Average Minus in the 2015 Noyes census ranking CC#10 for the S-191 dies therein. This large cent will be just right for another advanced large cent cabinet.PCGS# 1452. NGC ID: 2U59.PCGS Population (all die marriages of the 1800/1798 overdate): 5; 9 finer in this category, two of which are Mint State (MS-65 BN finest). PCGS also reports an example in MS-65 RB.From the ESM Collection. Earlier ex Heritages January 2006 FUN Signature Auction, lot 565; Tom Reynolds, September 2009 Long Beach Expo.
